iamshack

I think some of you just want to criticize the Cubs for whatever they do. They're building a stronger FO with these moves. It may not result in 2 titles like it did in Boston, but getting these two in the mix is definitely setting them up better for the future than having Jim Hendry there. I am not expecting Theo and Jed to transform the Cubs into a powerhouse overnight, but in my opinion, this is a definite solid first step to getting the product on the field back to respectability.

I had no idea Jon Jay had such an Afro!

Happy Birthday, Q! Enjoy your day!

QUOTE (farmteam @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 03:01 PM) I think you're right that this is one of the biggest barriers. However, I think there could be tests similar to field sobriety tests that aren't a breathalyzer (walk in a straight line or whatever, those sorts of things) that could be modified to fit the behavior of someone who just smoked. I want to say NORML has already come up with some possible guidelines on how this exact problem could be worked out, but I'm not sure. Lemme do some digging. I think most cops already have a pretty good idea when someone is high. Secondly, marijuana already has been vastly decriminalized. Not completely, but it's pretty simple to get your hands on if you are a smoker. Finally, you guys are concerned about additives from a regulated product? Seems to be there would be a lot more concern about additives from some jackass that sells it out of the back of his trunk than were it to be sold by a reputable company. Especially considering all the organically grown products on the market right now, I am sure there would be plenty very good products available, were it to become legalized and regulated.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 12:57 PM) I've heard amazing things about San Francisco (and the surrounding areas, including Wine Country), save for two things: Cost of Living (it's the most expensive in the country, even more than NYC, isn't it?) and the rainy/crummy weather. Those two things might be enough to deter me from wanting to live there; however, I've never even visited. The weather is definitely frustrating, as it is in Chicago. But you learn to deal with it. And there are so many surrounding areas with amazing weather that you can go to, so that helps make up for it. It is expensive as hell. But many employers recognize this and pay more as well. I met a few nurses there when I was in town (evil grin) that made $100k, easily. Of course their rent was $2800 a month as well.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 11:46 AM) had a great time. Sonoma was great, amazing to think that's a 1hr drive away. A bit uncertain on where we'll live. My go's in person interview is today. Good luck!

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 11:18 AM) Visited san fran this week. Got some good networking done. Pretty confident, now. What'd ya think? I was there around this time last year. A bit rainy (of course I'm used to 300 days of sunshine now), but some amazing culture...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 01:04 PM) You and I never agree on anything in baseball do we? I think the experience one impacts a manager's job a lot more than a hitting coach's job because the manager is much more about dealing with personalities than the hitting coach's job. Both the manager and the hitting coach have a technical side (actual moves, actual mechanics), but a manager has to massage egoes and deal with crises in a way I don't think a hitting coach must do. My opinion is that Ventura has been learning to massage egos and dealing with crises his entire major league career. We've heard multiple people speak to the fact that Robin is very good in the clubhouse and not afraid to manage personalities. Any time you've got a team, there are people who enjoy staying out of the limelight, there are those who are outstanding at their jobs, but would never get in anyone else's business, and then there are those that make it a priority for themselves to be leaders. One doesn't necessarily have to have the title of leader, or even necessarily be the best at what they do, they just have to have the ability to the courage to stand up and change the course of the team when such a change is necessary. We're seeing this with this entire Red Sox debacle. Players like Lester and Beckett are saying they needed veteran leadership like Doug Mirabelli and Mike Timlin to keep everyone on their toes. Seems that Ventura has been getting on OTJ for this sort of leadership for his entire career. As for a hitting coach, that seems to me much more technical. He's going to have to learn to look at other's swings and learn how to diagnose the flaws. Then he's going to have to learn how to fix them. He's been working on his own swing for his entire life. Now he has to learn how to work with all kinds of swings, and how to fix the problems. And not only how to fix the problems, but how to get other players to fix the problems. I dunno, it just seems like a manager spends much of his entire career learning to be a manager, whereas a hitting coach has to learn how to do that sort of technical analysis after his career is over.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 03:26 AM) Thanks for the wishes guys. (and also J4L at PM) Usually every year (since I was 14) I would get rowdy and usually find myself somewhere on the floor, someone's yard or at a friend's basement/apartment after the night, but this year is different. I work night shift the whole week and I'm calming down on the drinking. Must be this mid 20's thing I'm going through now.. Happy belated, Ger! Sorry for the late wishes...was installing a new washer/dryer all day yesterday

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Oct 19, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) Lol, so somehow you have turned "my brother" in to "my brother's friend's neighbor's sister's little cousin's dog"? Is one relation too much for you to follow? And you have also managed to construe my post in to saying that I think Apple/Siri is "meh" and old technology, when in fact I made no comments about it whatsoever, other than to point out that voice-activated software on phones is not "another" brand new thing that Apple has amazingly pioneered before anyone else. It existed before Apple started using it, although most people (not you) will be led to believe otherwise. And you managed to construe my post to mean that because I thought Siri would be a vert significant and material improvement to cell phone experiences, especially with the new hands-free laws, that I was stating that Apple invented all voice-activation technology.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 12:59 PM) I'm sure he can. And just like Robin, I'd rather have a guy who has taught or coached professionally before do it instead. Just like Robin, if Jim wants to get into coaching, he should start out at a lower level for a while to see if he is good at it, or not. This is where the experience argument makes a lot more sense to me... Managing a game you have been a part of for your entire life is one thing, teaching someone a very particular and technical skill without any experience is quite another. But again, I am too ignorant on the subject to really have a strong opinion.

At least we'd have someone that was incredibly respected...but I just don't know enough about hitting to know whether he would be a good coach or not.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 11:36 AM) I find it sickening that Cooper isn't allowed to go over the head of his boss, but that's exactly what Ozzie did and it couldn't be more acceptable. Honestly, what is Cooper supposed to do when you have Oney Guillen tweeting the play-by-play of what goes on behind the scenes? Ozzie's comments about Cooper's family are a bit humorous, considering all the problems we had with Ozzie's family over the last two years. If I was an employee of the White Sox, at least in one of the more public positions, I would certainly be concerned about Ozzie and his disgruntled son, and by extension, his lackey at the Sun-Times.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 12:57 PM) ..which he is choosing not to do. Boston has the position here. They will sit on him and pay his $3M for doing nothing, rather than letting him go for nothing at all. Cubs will cave and give them McNutt or someone else valuable, what few valuable pieces there are in the Cubs system. Have you been reading and listening to the Boston media the last few days? It's an absolute disaster right now. Jon Lester actually was calling in to all the media outlets yesterday trying to clear the players' names. John Henry is showing up at radio stations and trying to do damage control, meanwhile, he keeps insisting publicly that he was not in favor of signing Carl Crawford (way to give him a boost of confidence, John). There is simply no way in hell the Red Sox can afford to keep Theo anywhere in the picture. He's a local guy, this was his dream job, they won 2 titles during his tenure, etc. The fans are furious that they blew the division, but there is a growing backlash that Francona and Theo have been getting thrown under the bus by management. Keeping him around on the payroll and effectively blocking him from moving on with his career will not be a good PR move.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 03:25 PM) I probably should be above the fray, but I repeat my stance on Kenny a lot I know. It's probably because I got anti Oz crap shoved in my face every single day for months. So occasionally I point out that I'm ready for the anti Kenny stuff to start a comin. Again, I should be above that. You post pointed that out well. It's awesome that your posts have driven people who are merely guests to register just so they can put you on ignore... Nothing against you personally, Greg, but perhaps it's time to disconnect your head from Ozzie's anus now.

Wow, I really disagree with you guys on this. I think the Red Sox are the ones without leverage here. The Cubs should just continue to say no until the Red Sox get reasonable. Theo is not going back to Boston. Period. And while some compensation is appropriate, it should be a few decent prospects and then move onwards. But Boston needs to close the book on this situation, not drag it's feet and let things get messy. I think the Cubs should just continue doing what their doing, and Boston will be forced to come to their senses soon.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 08:00 PM) It would be impossible for Ozzie to get a fair trial here on Soxtalk right now. What exactly did he say that was wrong here? Other than his lewdness, which is expected at this point, I didn't take offense....the problem is he thinks that the fact that he won a WS here in '05 gives him a lifetime appointment to manage the White Sox. Sorry, but that's just not how it works.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 08:51 PM) Took what, 2 weeks before he decided the laundry needed aired? Makes one so proud... That's only because he was in Spain on vacation for two weeks. Otherwise, it would have been about 2 minutes after Cooper's interview.

I'm actually pretty impressed Ozzie kept it that clean and respectful...but honestly, this is just another example of his misunderstanding of the industry that is baseball right now. Does he not see what happened to Francona? What is happening with Theo? Professional sports, much like a lot of things in life, is a results-oriented business and a what have you done for me lately business. This is life Ozzie. Grow up. Accept it.

The key is obviously to have a balance. Teams can win in a variety of ways, but if you look at the more consistent franchises, they tend to have an influx of cheap young talent every few years, combined with some key veteran pieces from trades and the FA market. I really don't care where the cheap young talent comes from, as long as it comes from somewhere. I've obviously been a staunch defender of the White Sox in regards to their ability to find cheap young talent in unconventional ways, but obviously this needs to be heavily supplemented with success in the most conventional way, i.e. the draft and foreign signings. I think Dan is correct in the major problem being the lack of success in the Latin American markets...this is basically the breadbasket of talent right now and we've not been getting anything out of there recently.

QUOTE (Tex @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 05:20 AM) www.qotd.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood This reminds me of the scene from Strange Brew

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2011 -> 02:56 AM) I was so pissed when that happened. The stat sheet will say that Webster played a good game but Stevie was abusing him whenever lined up on his side. A semi-miraculous catch and a severe underthrow were the reasons for his 2 picks. If playing QB were all about mentality and seeing the field, Fitzpatrick would be a top 5 QB in the game, but a game like this exposes some of his bigger weaknesses, those being a mediocre (or even weak) arm and only so-so accuracy. He really can't do a whole lot beyond 20 yards and even Roosevelt's TD was only like a 15 yard pass and the defense fell apart. I also think that, if Tebow flops (and it sort of seems like the Broncos are setting him up to do so), the Bills will be very interested in acquiring him, which scares and excites me all at the same time. I'm picturing Tebow with a big grin on his face saying to Wite..."Do I make you horny? Come on, tell me, do I make you randy?"

QUOTE (MAX @ Oct 16, 2011 -> 10:03 PM) I'm impressed with Ponder. Especially this: "Ponder graduated from Florida State in two and a half years with a degree in finance and a 3.73 GPA, then an MBA, and is studying for his second graduate degree, in sports management" Yeah, the concern I heard about Ponder was his ability to pick up the offense there. Seems like a stupid concern considering how intelligent he apparently is.

Too many failed red zone trips for my liking.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Oct 16, 2011 -> 08:47 PM) I'm watching with the sound off. Were they showing Donovan McNabb's mom while he was getting the s*** knocked out of him? That seems low. It's hilarious that Cutler had the presence of mind to signal for the penalty on his way to the ground after a vicious hit. They just mentioned that she's had enough, and then said something I didn't understand "almost the opposite of what Cutler's mom watched last week." Hmm...seems like the same thing as Cutler's mom watched last week...